What were you?
Fear gave way to anger, as it so often does.
Elijah had seen the trope wherein an alien or monster would take the form of the protagonist’s loved one, causing them to hesitate or not attack at all. He thought it was ridiculous. Despite having all the physical features of his mother, this creature, he knew, was not her.
It was something intangible, a connection shared between family that was absent. That, and she was glowing. If he had not managed to separate himself from his past self when he was reliving his biggest fear, he may not have noticed the difference; it was subtle.
Appearing as someone Elijah cared for didn’t cause him to hesitate at all. If anything, his first strike was almost reactionary. That sort of tactic was just so abhorrent; he couldn’t help himself.
A Strength-enhanced fist lashed out, striking the woman in the face, startling her. Elijah expected to feel the crack of bone, or at the very least a meaty thud. Instead, when he hit the thing that looked like a person, his hand sunk in a good six inches before bouncing.
As he watched in confusion, the image shifted. It was not a person at all but a six-foot, jelly-like balloon that glowed with a soft yellow radiance. He cocked his head. It reminded him of—
Elijah threw himself backwards into the darkness, using all his Agility as well as his Dodge Skill to get as far away as possible. He couldn’t have done so any later. Something dark obscured the obvious bait from his view. It wasn’t much to go on, but it was all the proof he needed; that was a trap!
The glowing fleshy bulb had reminded him of an anglerfish, and he knew if he had stood there any longer, he would have been eaten by whatever monster lived in this Trial.
Unfortunately, the teen had been a little over-eager in his escape. Thrusting himself into the unknown at full speed had consequences.
Elijah slammed, back-first, into a jagged wall of caven rock, sending shooting pains up and down his body. The skin on his back cracked, and he was sure there would be bruises, though it was better than being caught up in the crunching sounds that were coming from the area he had been standing in mere milliseconds before.
Whatever this monster was, it had to be strong. Based on the way the biting cruck crumbled and cracked, the creature was chewing on rocks!
After a moment, it seemed to realise as much and let out an ear-piercing wail of anger and hunger. The sound was so different and disturbing that for a moment Elijah just stood there, stunned.
Then, the teen remembered where he was and threw himself aside, relying on the instincts his Initiative gave. The sound of rock crumbling filled his ears, and a wave of air passed over his face as something slammed into the wall where he had been standing.
The monster had turned off its gelatinous light bulb, and Elijah was forced to roll about blindly on the cave floor for a moment before coming to a stop against what felt like a stalagmite, reinforcing the idea that he was in a cave of some sort.
This wasn’t going to work. Clearly that thing could sense him somehow, but the teen couldn’t see a thing; he was relying on Luck, and he knew that could only end poorly.
Sure enough, before he could get back to his feet, something bony latched onto his leg. It tried to tug, but his hose had been ripped at some point, and it slipped off his Slimy skin.
He needed some way to see. He wanted to check his Skill, Traits, and Inventory for anything useful, but now that the flesh sac was no longer glowing, he couldn’t see the System windows. At least he had learnt something: System windows could not be seen in complete darkness.
That was hardly an upside, but he needed to focus on whatever positives he could; otherwise, he would lose hope. Today was already tough enough. On the plus side, he had managed to overcome his fear of the dark, though it had been supplanted by a fear of whatever this monster was.
As the young man stumbled-ran through a forest of stone, doing his best to place as many obstacles between himself and the enemy as possible, he strained his Intelligence and attempted to think of a path to success.
His mind whizzed around at a mile a minute, and he truly saw the power of his Attributes for the first time. If this was what 10 Intelligence felt like, which was apparently low, he couldn’t imagine having more than 100. He would be able to solve the P vs NP problem in seconds!
First, he tried his new The Taste of Treasure Trait by sticking his tongue out and wiggling it about like a snake to learn more about his surroundings. It worked, though a little too well.
The taste of dry, musty rock filled the air. To the left and right there were a variety of different tasting minerals and metals; below and above was stale, stagnant water.
Simply put, there was just too much that the Trait considered treasure, and Elijah was momentarily overwhelmed by it all. He stood still too long, attempting to process it all, and something sharp and ragged latched onto his side.
It tried to pull him off his feet, but the teen was just about able to slip away once more. Not without paying a price, however. His tongue caught the taste of blood before he retracted it, stopping the Trait from being active.
The Taste of Treasure may be able to help him see by taste, but he’d need lots of practice to even have a chance. Navigating by the tongue sense was completely foreign to him, and his brain had been overloaded by the information the Trait forced upon it.
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If he were willing to die over and over to whatever creature this was, he might be able to train the Trait enough to be useful, but the burning pain in his side and the wetness he felt as he pressed his hand into his flank while he ran through the darkness, away from the horror, disinclined him towards that particular notion.
He ran into a large column of rock, then shimmied around it for cover. Sweat, blood, and slime dripped down Elijah as he panted, back throbbing in time with his breath as it pressed into the cold rock.
Elijah wanted to get a look at how bad his bleeding was and instinctively activated Mana Manipulation, and nearly slapped himself for not thinking of it sooner. There was black mana that smothered the surroundings and reinforced the darkness, but the glow of the mana in his blood shone through.
Hesitantly, Elijah felt for the edge of the pillar he was hiding behind and poked his head out.
The path of glowing blood dimmed the further away it got, but he could still make out the trail, and at its end was a blood-stained claw. It floated about as if suspended in midair while the rest of the beast remained invisible.
His injury twinged, and Elijah gasped involuntarily. The claw stopped and turned towards him. Elijah pulled himself behind the stone structure, but he knew it was too late.
Thick padding creaks that may have been footsteps screeched across the stone towards him, accompanied by hissing breaths, analogous to the pre-cum of a steam whistle.
Elijah only had seconds to think. He dropped to the floor.
Crash!
Rock chips rained down, and Elijah looked up to see the bloodied claw embedded in something above him.
The teen would attack again with his other hand if the roles were reversed, so he rolled over on the floor, wincing as pressure was placed on his wound.
An invisible limb slammed into the ground next to him, but he had made a miscalculation; this creature had more claws than he expected. A three-fingered spiky limb suddenly blossomed from his right shoulder.
Elijah screamed! Reacting more than acting, Elijah tried something new. As he had done before, he made the mana in his blood imitate water, except he used the vital fluid that was not inside his body.
In a fraction of a second a blood blade was formed and shot towards where Elijah guessed the body of the monster would be. It was nearly as long as he was tall, far larger than anything he had managed before.
It also packed a punch, judging by the wailing of the creature. It ripped its appendage free of Elijah’s flesh as it writhed, and the pair screamed in concert.
Elijah, overwhelmed by adrenaline, desperately fired off two more blood blades at the monster, drawing straight from the hole in his side.
The creature tried to dodge, to skitter aside, but it had been painted with glowing mana and was plainly visible to him now.
There was a sudden flash of light, and then Elijah’s grandmother appeared in the cave, shaking in fear.
“Elijah, please stop; it hurts,” she whimpered, her visage battered and bruised.
The teen had become impossibly cold, and his hands were shaking from blood loss, but he didn’t hesitate for a second. Thanks to his previous attacks, he could see that the entire creature's body opened up to create this glowing illusionary balloon. That made him believe it must be a weak spot if it had to be so well guarded.
Elijah smiled in satisfaction as his attack took off his grandmother's head. The vision disappeared, revealing the glowing sack seeping a translucent yellow liquid from a weeping wound. The fluid sizzled on contact with the stone, and the monster’s cries became gurgled.
The teen was barely able to manage a snort of sadistic triumph. He had won, though it was a pyrrhic victory. Seconds later, unconsciousness claimed the boy. He bled out.
He awoke in a familiar void with a window before him. Elijah’s first thought was:
Why can I see the System windows here but not in the last Trial?
The answer was revealed to him when he tried to use Mana Manipulation’s passive ability to see mana. In the cave, dark mana had ensured nothing would be seen, but in the void there was truly nothing. No mana outside of himself whatsoever.
Elijah suppressed a shudder. A world without mana was a world he should be used to; it was what he had lived with for sixteen years, after all, but now it just seemed wrong, unnatural.
He turned his attention to the notifications.
You have defeated a Lv 26 Candle-Sweep:
Extra Xp is awarded for defeating an opponent of a greater level. Extra Xp is awarded for defeating an enemy of a higher tier. 1607 Xp awarded. Xp automatically placed in escrow, US 2.7.1.
Congratulations!
You have completed the Trial of Evolution 1: Candle-Sweep
Grade: A
Objectives:
- Defeat the Evolved Candle-Sweep without dying: ?
- Resist or overcome the Fear effect: ?
- Do not fall for the Candle-Sweep’s bait: ?
Rewards:
You have earned the right to Evolve from a Candle-Sweep into 1 of 5 Candle-Sweep Evolutions:
- Avarice Illusionist
- Wall Walker
- Fishing Darkness
- Eluring Light
- Shadow Stalker
Choose Now!
New Evolution Class E?v?o?l?u?t?i?o?n? C???l???a???s???s??? E???v????o?????l????u????t????i????o?????n??? C??????l???????a???????s????s??????? … Unlocked!
Evolution Unlocked:
Shadow Stalker: A
The Candel-Sweep is already a predator used to hiding in the shadows and luring in prey, but this Evolution doesn’t have to wait for a meal to wander over; it can bring the darkness with it and hunt wherever it so chooses.
New Class Skill Unlocked!
New Class Skill unlocked:
Domain of Darkness: A
This is the core ability of the Shadow Stalker. It creates a sphere of impenetrable darkness 50 metres in radius. The monster who uses this Skill regenerates Health, receives a damage bonus, and gains a complete awareness of everything in the domain while within its area of effect; the opposite effects inflict those the monster deems enemies. Costs 250 Mana and lasts 1 minute.
You have reached Level 1 in S?????h????a?????d??????o???????w?????? ????S?????t???a?????l??????k???e??????r?????!??????
+3 Agility
+3 Intelligence
+1 Perception
patrons: